Tandem locking device



Feb. 27, 1951 V.J.RYAN ETAL TANDEM LOCKING DEVICE Filed Oct. 29, 1949 3 5 Inventors:

VLCOT J. Rgan.;

Arthur P'. Pisacane,

` T hn Abtovne g.

Patented Feb. 27, 1951 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE TANDEM LOCKING DEVICE victor J. Ryan, Darby, and. Arthur F. Pisacane,l Lansdowne, Pa., assignors to General Electric Company, a corporation of New York Application October 29, 1949, Serial No. 124,438

(Cl. S12-218) 2 Claims. 1

Our invention relates to locking devices and, more particularly, to a device for the selective securing of a number of doors in a series of Veltically hinged doors situated adjacently in a row.

Where a number of adjacent compartment doors are secured individually, the provision of the multiplicity of locks required may be unneccessarily expensive. Also, keeping readily available the correspondingl keys necessary to operate the locks is inconvenient. The primary object of our invention is to provide a simple and inexpensive device by means of which any number, or all, ofthe doors in such a series may be secured by the use of rbut one lock, while the rest of the doors are individually controlled.

According to our invention, a door handle pivoted upon a shaft extending through the door of each compartment adjacent its closing edge is rotatable between an unlatched and a latched position. A link rigidly mounted upon the shaft inside the door is pivoted to a substantially vertical slidable latch, the end of which is below the top of the door when, the handle is in unlatched position and extends above the door to be caught by the lintel when the handle is in latched position.

A restraining bar parallel with the lintel and spaced therefrom is mounted by means of elongated holes upon bearings rotatable upon pins projecting into the compartment from the lintel. The extended latch projects into the space between the bar and the lintel. The latch is provided with a pin perpendicular to its longitudinal axis adjacent its upper end. With the pin positioned so as to project towards the oar when the door is closed, a vertical portion of an L shaped slot in the restraining bar provides for vertical movement of the pin when the door handle is rotated to latched position. A horizontal portion of the slot communicates with the vertical por.- tion. The restraining bar is movable horizontally between a free and a restraining position and when the door is latohed and the bar is slid to the restraining position, the bottom of the horizontal portion of vthe slot engages the pin to restrain the latch from moving downward out of engagement with the bar, consequently preventing the door handle from unlatching the door.

Intermediate links connect the restraining bars of adjoining compartments to cause them to slide in tandem and a single lever pivoted upon the lintel of one compartment chosen as the master compartment and engaging a slot in the restraining bar of that compartment operates all of the restraining bars as a unit. The lever isprovided with a. handle and is arranged to extend outward at an angle from the lintel of. the master Compartment in its free position. and t0 extend .uSh with the lintel when in its restraining position. The closing of the master door retains the vhandle in the latter position.

Provision is made to rotate each latch about its horizontal axis so that when the door is closed the pin thereof points. towards or away from its corresponding bar. The bars restrain only those pinsv that are positioned pointing towards their corresponding bars so that the pins of the selected doors are so positioned, leaving the rest of thev doors free to be locked individually. Since the lever is mounted inside the door of the master compartment, the pin of the master latch necessarily must be pointed away from the corresponding bai to allow the door to be individually locked. Locking of the master door secures in addition the selected doors of the remaining compartments.

A staple mounted upon each door adjacent the latched position of the handle allows the doors to be individually padlocked.

An object of our invention is to provide a locking device by which a single lock secures the doors of a series of compartments.

A further object of our invention is to provide a locking device to secure the doors of a series of compartments in which a padlock upon one of the doors also secures a selection of the other doors in the series.

' A still further object of our invention is to provide a locking device to secure the doors of a series of compartments using a single operating handle.

For additional objects and advantages, and for a better understanding of the invention, atten.- tion is now directed to the following description and accompanying drawing, and also to the appended claims vin which the features of the invention believed to be novel are particularly pointed out.l

In the drawing;v Fig. l is a fragmentary elevation View of a series of adjacent compartments having vertically-hinged doors; Fig. 2 is an enlarged partly-cut-away view of the restraining bar of a locking device of our invention.` mounted upon a lintel of a compartment; Fig. 3 is a detailed view taken on section line 3.-.3 of Fig. 1 looking in the direction of the arrows; Fig. 4 is a detailed sectional View taken on section line L -4 of Fig. l. 'looking in the direction of the arrows. Fig. 5. is a View of an alternate method and is rotatable to an unlatched position 'I indicated in dotted lines in Fig. 1. A staple 5A is mounted upon the door so that handle 5 can be locked in its latched position. A link 8 mounted upon the inside end of shaft 6 is pivotally connected to a latch 3 slidable in a support I0 secured to the inner face of door 2.

When handle 5 is in unlatched position, latch 9 extends to a point slightly below the bottom of lintelII and when handle 5 is in latched position, latch 9`extends vertically above the door to be held by lintel II, preventing the door from opening. A pin I2 projects from the surface of-latch 9 adjacent its upper end and perpendicular to the longitudinal axis thereof. Latch 9 is adjustably mounted in a support I3, which is rotatably mounted on link 8, and locked in rotational position by nuts It. Bar I5 is slidable between free and restraining positions upon pins I6 provided with bearings Il mounted upon lintel I and projecting into horizontally elongated holes I8 in bar I5 so that in latched position, latch 9 extends between lintel EI and bar I5. Bar I5 is provided with an L-shaped slot I having a vertical portion I9a which receives pin I2 upon its upward movement in response to rotation of handle 5 to the latched position. Slot I9 also has a horizontal portion Ib which receives pin I2 when handle 5 is in the latched position and bar I5 is in its restraining position as in Fig. 2, thereby preventing the unlatching of the door by handle 5. Links 20 connect bars I5 of adjacent compartments so that the bars slide in tandem. A lever 2| having a handle Zia. perpendicular to an arm 2| b is horizontally pivoted at 22 upon lintell II ofthe compartment chosen as the master compartment. Arm 2lb projects within an opening 23 in bar I5 engaging the ends thereof so that when the handle is moved, the bars slide horizontally between free and restrained positions. Lever 2| is shown in its restraining position. The dot-dash outline shows lever 2| in its free position and the master door open.

To secure a selection of doors to be opened along with the chosen master door of the series,

the latches of the selected doors are previously z adjusted in supports I3 so that their pins I2 point toward corresponding bars I5. When the doors are latched and the lever 2| is put into its restraining position the selected doors are prevented from being unlatched by turning their handles and the remainder of the doors are left free to be latched separately. With the lever handle in restraining position, the master door canbe latched and locked, thus locking the selecteddoors along with the master door.

For an alternate method of adjusting any of the compartments selected to be themaster compartment, lever 2| is mounted upon lintel II of the chosen compartment. Support IIJ is mounted onto door 2 by means of bolts 24 projecting through mounting holes 25 in support Ill. On door 2 holes 25 are horizontally elongated to allow horizontal adjustment of latch pin I2 to either end of slot I9 when bar I5 is in restraining position. Support I0 of the chosen master compartment is shifted horizontally so that pin I2 is at the end of slot I9 adjacent vertical portion |9a and supports I0 of the remainder of the doors are adjusted to the opposite end of slot It when bar I9 is in restraining position so that the master door is not restrained by bar I5 and the remainder of the doors are restrained by their bars I5.

While the present invention has been described vby reference to particular embodiments thereof,

it will be understood that numerous modifications may be made by those skilled in the art without actually departing from the invention. We, therefore, aim in the appended claims to cover all such equivalent variations as come within the true spirit and scope of the foregoing disclosure.

What we claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

l. In combination, a row of adjacent compartments having horizontal swinging doors and lintels above said doors, latches slidably mounted on the inside of said doors, said latches being rotatable about the longitudinal axes thereof, door handles mounted upon said doors and rotatable between latched and unlatched positions, said latches being operated by said door handles to extend below the top edges of said doors when said handle is in said unlatched position and to eX- tend above said top edges when said handles are in said latched positions, said latches having pins mounted perpendicularly to said longitudinal axes and adjacent the top ends thereof, positioning means for rotating said latches about said longitudinal axesato position said pins in variable relation to said doors and restraining means comprising a plurality of bars mounted upon corresponding lintels for horizontal movement betr-.fee free and restraining positions and provided with 'L-shaped slots having vertical portions to receive said pins when said handles are in said latched positions and horizontal portions to receive said pins when said bars are in said restraining positions thereby to prevent said selected doors from being unlatched, links mounted between adjacent ends of said bars so that said bars slide in tandem, and lever means pivoted within the compartment closed by a master door to slide said bars, the

latch pin of said yinaster door being rotated outv of position to prevent engagement with the horizontal sliding bar when said bar is in restraining position, so that said master door can be individually locked.

2. In combination, a row of adjacent compartments having horizontal swinging doors and lintels having faces of horizontal portions thereof adjacent said doors in the closed positions thereof, latches slidably mountedv on the inside of said doors, door handles pivotally mounted upon said doors to be rotatable between latched and unlatched positions and pivotally connected to ends of said latches, whereby said latches extend below said horizontal portions when said handles are in said unlatched positions and extend upwards adjacent the opposite faces of said horizontal portions thereby to restrain said doors in closed positions when said handles are in said latched positions, pins projecting from the free ends of said latches perpendicular to said longitudinal aXis and adjacent the free ends thereof, means for rotating said latches about the longitudinal axes thereof to position said pins in variable relation to said doors, one of said compartments being selected to be the master compartment, and certain of said compartments being selected to be locked inv latched position bythe jecting beneath the pins of`said selected doors.' 10

when said doors are latched and said bars are in said restraining position, tov prevent the unlatching of said selected doors* by turning the handles thereof, lever means pyoted Within said master compartment and pivta'lly connected to slide said locking unit, said lever means being adapted to be locked in position corresponding to said restraining position by the closing of said master door.

VICTOR J. RYAN. AR'I'HUR F. PISACANE.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,109,364 Schoenfeld Sept. 1, 1914 1,865,366 Fourchy June 28, 1932 l5 2,236,043 Tracy Mar. 25, 1941 

